SK Telecom, Korea Telecom obtain licenses for IMT-2000

The Ministry of Information and Communication announced Friday that consortiums led by Korea Telecom and SK Telecom have been selected as providers of the IMT-2000 service using W-CDMA (wideband code division multiple access) technology. It said LG Glocom and Hanaro Telecom had failed in their bids.

Officials said that in the screening process, SK Telecom obtained 84.018 points out of a possible 102, followed by Korea Telecom with 81.860 points.

LG Glocom failed to secure the business right after getting only 80.880 points. Hanaro Telcom made the sole bid for a license to provide the service based on CDMA-2000 but scored only 56.412 points, well below the passing mark of 70 points.

In the examination of the financial state and organization of shareholders, SK Telecom secured 24.719 points out of a possible 30, the highest among the three contenders. Korea Telecom obtained 23.807 points and LG Glocom 23.754 points. Hanaro obtained only 19.336 points in the category.

In terms of the business plan feasibility and appropriateness of facility scale, SK Telecom racked up 26.566 points, followed by LG Glocom with 26.482 points. Korea Telecom received 26.103 points and Hanaro Telecom 19.336 points.

In technological development and ability, SK Telecom also topped the list with 30.733 points out of a possible 35 points while Korea Telecom chalked up 29.950 points. LG Glocom received 28.644 points and Hanaro Telecom 17.262.

The ministry said it would accept new applications for the CDMA license next January and select an operator by February. With the exclusion of LG Glocom from the competition, however, SK Telecom and Korea Telecom are expected to dominate the telecom market. LG Group, which devoted its energy to fostering LG Glocom as its key business area, will have to make a major shift in its management strategy.